Editor's Choice: Jan. 17, 2006

The legacy of Ohios own U.S. Rep. Bob Ney will stretch far beyond his oft-mocked freedom fries phrase. (Yes, hes the guy who coined that idea in the House cafeteria back in 2003 when France failed to back the U.S. attack on Iraq).
This story in todays New York Times tells how Mr. Ney has become the most visible elected target of the broad Justice Department inquiry into corruption and influence-peddling in Washington.
He is under increasing attack from Democrats over allegations that he assisted (lobbyist Jack) Abramoff in exchange for gifts and travel. Over the weekend, Mr. Ney relinquished his chairmanship of the administration committee temporarily, acknowledging that his association with Mr. Abramoff was becoming a distraction for the Republican Party, the story says.
Mr. Ney's legal problems may loom even larger than his political ones because he is in serious jeopardy of being indicted, people directly involved in the legal case have said, the story stated.
On the double
The Associated Press is reporting that the number of diabetes cases in Ohio has doubled in about a decade because of bad eating and lots of sitting around.
Whats most alarming, though, is the rise in type 2 diabetes among children.
"That is due largely to overweight issues. Children eating too many calories and not getting enough exercise," said Elizabeth Bonfield, assistant director at the Central Ohio Diabetes Association.
The Ohio Department of Health estimates about 1 million people in Ohio have the disease, although about 267,000 cases are undiagnosed. About 20 million Americans have diabetes, the story says.
It seems the increasingly popular corporate wellness programs have an uphill battle ahead of them to shape up Ohios work force.
Get a whiff of this
A Northern California clinic is reporting 99% accuracy in its nontraditional (and some might even say animalistic) lung cancer diagnosis testing methods.
The Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, Calif., reports its five highly trained dogs – two Labradors and two Portuguese water dogs – can with 99% accuracy sniff lung cancer on peoples breath. So reportsThe New York Times.
The study was based on well-established concepts. It has been known since the 80's that tumors exude tiny amounts of alkanes and benzene derivatives not found in healthy tissue, the story says. But other researchers are skeptical of the 99% accuracy claim. (For breast cancer, the dogs sniffers were about 88% accurate with no false positives, mirroring the results of the more standard mammogram.)
"Yes, we were astounded, as well," research director Michael McCulloch said. "And that's why it needs to be replicated with other dogs, plus chemical analysis of what's in the breath."
Interesting that with all the talk of nanotechnology and microelectromechanical systems that these researchers are making their mark with the help of a dogs nose.
One Wal-Mart too many
In a town the size of Los Angeles, how many Wal-Marts is too many Wal-Marts?
It seems six is the tipping point.
Wal-Mart recently pulled out of a proposed sixth store in L.A., citing concerns about the expense of the detailed alternative land use and environmental impact studies required by local residents and city officials, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The store was proposed to alleviate the long lines at two nearby Wal-Mart stores. In the end, the Arkansas-based retail giant said the expense of jumping through the community-required hoops outweighed the need to place another low- price Mecca nearby.
An interesting read
IndiaPost.com publishes an interesting Q&A with Bombay-born and Cleveland-based journalist/author Thrity Umrigar, whose second novel, The Space Between Us, recently was published by Harper Collins.
Ms. Umrigars stories have been published locally in the Akron Beacon Journal and The Plain Dealer, and she teaches creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve University.
In the interview, she tells why she left her Indian roots for American soil, how a Joan Baez song helped her to choose Ohio State University to study journalism, and who influences her writing (Salman Rushdie included).
--Deanna Bottar is the sections editor at Crains Cleveland Business.